Saturday, November 2, 2013

I've been struggling with the 12 functions and making sure
they all interact properly, and frankly
I need a break. I know I haven't posted anything on the blog in a while, so I
figured I could combine my break with some new posts.

This month is National Game Design Month, or NaGaDeMon. It's
the game design counterpart of National Novel Writing Month. I do think it's
strange that they hold it on the same month as NaNoWriMo, since I might have
liked to participate in both. Oh well.

The idea behind NaGaDeMon is to write or finish a game in a
month. Tribute is too far along, so it would feel like cheating to me. Also, I
couldn't honestly commit to getting it done in a month. I'd rather get it
right.

Anyway, I've had an idea for a simple comedy game for a
while, called "Crank". The premise of the game is that internet
crackpots must band together to save the world. A typical adventure might
involve Sasquatch, the Shadow government, The Greys... and Scientology. A
typical party might include a New Age mystic , a Hollow Earth theorist, a guy
who claims he's an ex Navy Seal, and an alien abductee.

The cool aspect of the game on a mechanical level is that
you play an incompetent who basically fails his or her way to success.

I figure it will be a nice diversion and let some of the
Tribute stuff I've been working on percolate a bit. I'll tag any posts I make
about Crank as Crank related.

About Crank

To play, you need:

A literal bucket of pipped six-sided dice of the same size.
This is community property in play. Have each player and the GM contribute
about $10, and buy as many dice from a dollar or discount store as you can. I
can get them 10 for a dollar locally. So yes, you need a whole lot of dice. I
recommend a sand pail or galvanized bucket to hold them all.

A Character Sheet

A Pencil

Graph Paper

The Core Mechanic:
Risk Dice

Crank's core mechanic is pretty different, and like
Tribute's it's pretty fiddly. That might end up being the hallmark of my games.

In Crank, unlike most other games, you don't want to roll a
lot of dice, because dice represent the risk you're taking.

When you want to try somethingin the game, the GM will tell you what the
Risk of that action is. For example, he might say, "Shooting out the tire
is 18 Risk". You can push you luck
by trying for more damage or another effect, increasing Risk further.

Once you know your Risk, subtract your appropriate attribute
and skill ranks from the Risk, and roll the remaining dice. If you roll even a
single 1, you fail. Anything else, and you succeed. If you succeed, your dice go back in the
bucket until the next roll.

If you fail, all is not lost- slide all of the dice you
rolled aside without allowing them to change face. They're called your "Atlantean
Dice", and you'll need them later. If you succeed, you do not generate
Atlantean Dice.

Failing on a single 1 might seem harsh, but this isn't a
game about highly trained operatives- it's about largely incompetent men and
women who are the only ones standing between the world and genetically modified Jersey Devils who want to
clone the president.Even so, the
probabilities aren't that bad- there's an incentive to try crazier stunts once
you're already rolling a lot of dice. Here are the probabilities:

Risk
Dice

Chance
of Success

Chance
of Failure

Risk
Dice

Chance
of Success

Chance
of Failure

1

83.3%

16.7%

11

13.56%

86.54%

2

69.4%

30.6%

12

11.22%

88.78%

3

57.88%

42.12%

13

9.35%

90.65%

4

48.22%

51.78%

14

7.79%

92.21%

5

40.19%

59.81%

15

6.49%

93.51%

6

33.49%

66.51%

16

5.41%

94.59%

7

27.91%

72.09%

17

4.51%

95.49%

8

23.26%

76.74%

18

3.76%

96.24%

9

19.39%

80.61%

19

3.13%

96.87%

10

16.16%

83.84%

20

2.61%

97.39%

Atlantean Dice and
Glyphs

The dice that you move aside on a failure are called "Atlantean
Dice".With them, you form "Glyphs",
images which give your character lucky breaks, or activate special effects and
abilities. They are somewhat metagame, but they also have an in-game rationale.

Here's an example of the concept of a Glyph:

1

1

4

1

1

Black spaces represent dice, but don't worry about the
numbers yet. I'll get to them in a minute.

When you make a Glyph you form a pixelated image with the
dice that corresponds to an in-game effect. For example, by forming one glyph
and using it, you might be able to cause your opponent to fail a roll
automatically. Until you activate a
Glyph your dice are not committed- you don't have to keep building a Glyph
justbecause you started it.

The number of pips on the rolled value of an Atlantean Die
matter for making glyphs; you can only place a die adjacent to as many
neighbors (at right angles) as the die has pips. Dice at a 45 degree angle do
not count as adjacent for the purposes of this limit.

This means that a die with a 1 on it can attach to 1 other die,
a die with a 2 can be adjacent to up to 2 other dice, and a die with a 4 on it can be adjacent to up
to 4 other dice. Dice with 5 and 6 can
be adjacent to up to 4 other dice.

Pips on the die

Number of Adjacent Dice

Use

1

1

Useful for terminating a line without using a bigger die.

2

2

Useful for turning corners or making bridges between larger sections.

3

3

Useful for continuing a line while branching in another direction, or branching in three directions.

4,5,6

4

Usefulat the center of glyphs that branch or for filling space.

After you've made a Glyph, you can activate it at any time
before the end of the session. Activating it gives you the game effect that it
offers. The GM may also allow you to save Glyphs between sessions, such as when
the game ends on a cliff hanger. Fill in boxes on graph paper to save your
Glyphs between sessions, and cross them out as you use them.

Glyphs aren't purely metagame- they represent the fictional
alphabet of Atlantis in the setting- symbols of power that give mystical
results when invoked. Aside from metagame effects, they can also be used to
activate things like spells, alien technology, etc.

Here are some example Glyphs and their effects. The final
game may or may not use these exact images or rules, but the principle is the
same. As mentioned before, black fields
represent a die. The number in the middle of each field represents the minimum
die roll that fits there.

Mote

1

1

4

1

1

Dice: 5

Duration: One Roll

Effect: You may
activate this Glyph to receive a -2 to your final Risk Value, meaning that you
must roll 2 fewer dice to succeed.

Notes: This is
the simplest Glyph possible.

Circle

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Dice:8

Duration:One Roll, Retroactive

Effect: Activating
this Glyph allows you to cancel out a single 1 that you have rolled,
potentially turning a failure into a success. No matter how many 1s you cancel,
the roll is treated as a roll with the original number of dice.

Lesser Star

1

2

3

2

1

3

3

1

2

3

2

1

Dice: 12

Duration: One
Roll, Retroactive

Effect: You may
nullify any single roll by opposition that would affect you, turning it into a
failure. You may not affect your own rolls. The targeted roll has no effect on
you, and does not get to be rerolled.

Sacred Eye

1

3

2

3

1

1

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

2

Dice: 27

Duration: One
scene

Effect: You get a
hint from the GM about what's really going on in the adventure. This hint must
be useful, such as briefly seeing through an Alien's disguise, or having a
government agent forget an important file when he escapes. If you've already guessed this secret, there
is no need for the GM to give you extra information, but he or she can confirm
your suspicions. The GM should prepare potential ideas for such hints ahead of
time when possible, since this Glyph will come into play in most adventures with
an element of mystery to them.

The Serpent of Obstruction

1

2

3

2

2

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

4

3

2

2

1

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

Dice: 33

Duration: One
Scene

Effect: You may
declare one fact about the scene that is inconvenient for your opposition, such
as a jammed gun, a flat tire, or another of their enemies showing up. You may not
kill your opponent outright, but you can cut off options or set them up for
death.

Notes: Snakes are
an ancient symbol of obstruction in the real world.

Vortex

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

Dice: 45

Duration:1 full round

Effect: You may
selectively change one die per roll made by anyone during this round. Help your
friends, hinder your enemies.

Notes: This one
takes a lot of dice for the effect, but the dice it requires are easy to come
by.

Conclusion

You may have noticed that some of the Glyph costs seem too
cheap for what you're getting. There are two reasons for that- I'm going by
instinct at this stage, and I want some of the effects to be rarer than others.
Also consider that these are just
examples at this stage. The final Glyphs may be very different.

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About Me

I'm a writer and game designer. I've had two RPG books published for the d20 System- the Morningstar Campaign Setting, and The Complete Guide to Fey. I'm working on a new generic game system called Tribute.

I sometimes do stand up comedy at the open mic level, but I haven't done it in a while.